Zurich wants to keep its hospital robots for CHF 303,000 a year. It will still rent them, and the supplier may change.

Previously

In May 2023, Swiss Post said four of its indoor robots had been moving supplies at night at Stadtspital Zürich's Triemli site since early February. It said the robots rode the lifts on their own between a basement store and 34 floors in two buildings. Swiss Post claimed a one-day cut in order-to-delivery time and about 1,500 deliveries. No cost or hospital data was public.

ZURICH, June 2026 — The City of Zurich has asked its council to turn the Triemli robot pilot into a permanent service from Jan. 1, 2027. Here's what changed since Part 1 (May 2023), what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of June 2026)

Recurring cost: CHF 303,000 a year incl. VAT, from Jan. 1, 2027. (Weisung 2026/315)
Of which: CHF 250,000 robot rent, CHF 25,000 for minor adaptations, CHF 28,000 reserve. (Weisung 2026/315)
One-time cost: About CHF 900,000 ("rund"), for 14 more carts and possible costs of switching robot provider. Approved separately by the department, not by the council. (Weisung 2026/315)
Fleet: 4 robots, 56 carts, with 14 more carts to be bought; no extra robots planned. (Weisung 2026/315)
City's verdict: The pilot "proved itself." (City of Zurich)
Status: Needs a city council vote; subject to optional referendum. (Council business page)

What the city found

The report says the robots have run "without disruption" and met all the pilot's goals. It lists the gains. Goods move through faster and arrive at the same time every morning. Lift lobbies are less crowded during the day. Staff no longer push carts weighing about 200 kg by hand.

The city's release quotes Andreas Hauri, the member of the city executive who heads the Health and Environment Department: «Die Robotertransporte haben sich im Spitalalltag bewährt. Sie entlasten die Mitarbeitenden, vereinfachen Abläufe und schaffen mehr Zeit für die Kernaufgaben im Spital …» In English: the robot transports have proven themselves in daily hospital life, relieving staff, simplifying processes and freeing time for the hospital's core work.

How the pilot grew

The pilot was approved in 2022 and started in January 2023 in Triemli's renovated tower building, the report says. That's a month earlier than the "early February" Swiss Post gave in 2023. The report also puts the ward block in 2024, not 2023 as Swiss Post's account had it. The robots served 19 outpatient clinics and five office floors with 30 carts.

The robots had spare capacity, so in 2024 the city approved extra money to extend them to linen for the ward block. That added 26 carts and bought the original 30, which had been rented. All 56 carts can still be pushed by hand. The robot count stayed at four. The report also says logistics staff absorbed the extra supply work in the tower without adding headcount. That's the closest the report comes to a labor figure. It doesn't say whether any roles were cut.

Why rent, not buy

The city will keep renting. The report gives two reasons: the technology changes fast, and the rental covers maintenance. The CHF 250,000 rent estimate is set 15% above the pilot's rent to allow for inflation and new technology. The report doesn't give the pilot's rent in francs. By our math, if the 15% markup applies to the whole CHF 250,000 line, the pilot rent was about CHF 217,000 a year.

The contract has already been re-tendered on SIMAP, Switzerland's public procurement platform. That's why the one-time budget includes the possible cost of a provider change: adapting carts, remapping the building and reworking lift controls. The report doesn't name the current supplier. Swiss Post, which named itself as the supplier in 2023, may not be the supplier in 2027.

What's changed

The numbers now come from the hospital's owner, not the supplier. The city has a cost: CHF 303,000 a year. The scope grew from supplies and waste into linen, without more robots. And the hard questions have shifted from "does it work?" to procurement: the rent, the tender and the cost of switching.

What went wrong

The robots are under-used. The city's own report says they are still not fully used, after the 2024 extension.
Switching could be costly. About CHF 900,000 one-time is expected, partly to cover a change of provider.
Not every cost is counted. Internal IT costs of about CHF 12,000 a year are left out of the CHF 303,000.
What we don't know yet: who makes the robots, how much the pilot rent was, who wins the new tender, and how the council votes.

Our follow-up question for Stadtspital Zürich

If the tender brings in a new provider, how long would the switch take, and would night deliveries stop while the building is remapped?

Since publication

Added Sept. 2026: The council's standing committee for health and environment (Sachkommission GUD) recommended approval on Sept. 24. Five members voted in favour; three Social Democrats, including chair Nadina Diday, abstained; five were absent. (Sachkommission GUD motion)
Added Oct. 2026: The item is on the agenda for the council's Oct. 28 session. No vote has been taken as of Oct. 25. Update this line if publication slips past Oct. 28. (Council business page)

Sources

Stadt Zürich, “Robotertransporte am Stadtspital Zürich haben sich bewährt,” media release, June 24, 2026. stadt-zuerich.ch
Stadtrat von Zürich, Weisung an den Gemeinderat, GR Nr. 2026/315, June 24, 2026. gemeinderat-zuerich.ch
Gemeinderat Zürich, business page for GR Nr. 2026/315. gemeinderat-zuerich.ch
Gemeinderat Zürich, Antrag der Sachkommission GUD, GR Nr. 2026/315, Sept. 24, 2026. gemeinderat-zuerich.ch
Earlier in this series: Part 1. /case/stadtspital-zurich-robots-night-shift

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